New here with a B6000

[trevoroni]

I am starting to look into a source for these odd sized tires. 7-16 on the back and 6-12 in the front.
Looking at the operators manual above the tire sizes lists "tread", is this the range of outside diameter that is acceptable for the 4WD?
I'm trying to find the range of rolling circumference ratio between the front and rear that is acceptable.
These numbers seem odd because if the rear are at the low diameter then they could actually be smaller than the fronts...
I found the thread with the guy with the B7100 that determined the ratio for his tractor when changing tire sizes but the B7100 has different tire sizes and the "tread" sizes in the operators manual don't have as much as a range.
Or am I overthinking this and should I just get what I can find?
The local dealer can get some BKT TR 144's for the rear and I can track down some Carlisle Farm Specialist R1's for the front. Which gives a ratio of about 1.27.
If the ratio's in the manual are to be believed it can be 1.21 - 0.94 which seems odd to me.

... Maybe I should try and fix the front axle before worrying about this!

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

It's a typo.
You just need to find similar tread in the correct sizes front and rear.
What I mean by similar is, not rice tread in the front and farm tread in the rear, or vice versa.

 

[trevoroni]

Thanks, I thought something didn't seem right with those numbers. I checked the service manual as well and it said the same thing. Even the metric to imperial conversion is correct for the measurements so I wasn't sure.
I figured it'd probably be close enough that it wouldn't cause any issues.

 

[trevoroni]

Well well well...
Another development on the 4WD and tires...
Checked the actual tires on the tractor and it has 7.00x14 on the rear and 5.00x12 on the front. The rear is about a 26" diameter and the front is 22" diameter for a ratio of 1.18.
Luckily it looks like it's still just within the acceptable ratio range so hopefully that's not what caused the 4wd problems.
They look like the original tires or close to it. Japanese standard Bonka tires. I'm not sure why it has 14" rims on the rear.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Someone has swapped tires around from something else because nothing is right.
Rears are supposed to be 7-16 and front 6-12
Also looks like they have flipped the front rims inside out, that's a big non no with these as it puts way to much stress on the front axles.
The other thing I notice is they have the rear rims and hubs mounted back wards, the Hub is supposed to be on the inside of the rim.
To say the ratio is right or within limits is stretching it.
You really need to get the right rims and the right tires

 

[trevoroni]

Thanks for all the helpful information Wolfman.
I should have made the time to get that other B6000 last week as it is gone now.
Before I go and spend a bunch of money on tires and/or rims I'm going to have a look into the 4wd issues and go from there.

 

[trevoroni]

Well there's the start of the 4wd problem.
2 bearings where the driveshaft from the transmission goes into the front axle exploded. There were ball bearings and crap in the front diff that was the cause of the axle locking up. I got out the big chunks through the hole where the shaft goes in and put it back together without the u joint or shaft attached for now. It looks like the differential should still work after cleaning it up.
But when I went to move the tractor it didn't move in gear. Does that have to be attached for the rear wheels to turn? I wouldn't have thought so.

 

[trevoroni]

Figured out why it wouldn't move...
I must have bumped the Hi-Lo range lever at some point as it was between gears.
All good now.
Just have to track down some bearings and clean out the case and hopefully be back in business.
It's amazing what you can accomplish while the wife is at work and the kids are at a birthday party down the road for a couple of hours!

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Bearings (2): 08101-06305
Oil seal: 66591-56430

The ring gear looks really worn!

 

[trevoroni]

Bearings (2): 08101-06305
Oil seal: 66591-56430

The ring gear looks really worn!

Thanks I was looking at the like new pictures of one and I agree the ring gear and pinion both are pretty worn. Hopefully worn together over the last nearly 50 years and not due to the bearing fragments chewing things up. I'm not sure how long it's been broken as the previous owner said he bought it like that 3 years ago.
I'll put it together as is and see how things are working and go from there.
The bearings look to be standard 6305 bearings so I'll get some SKF or Timken ones locally.
I'm really impressed with how easy these little tractors are to work on.
Also, it looks like the tire and rim combination are common in the overseas and grey market tractors. But that could be the cause of this issue. I swapped them side for side during this adventure so the offset is on the correct side.
I was able to use the higher gears in high range without any issues so it must have been the larger bearing fragments getting in the gears causing the locking up.
The previous owner probably didn't use high range very often as the yard was pretty small and hilly.

 

[trevoroni]

Got the pinion shaft disassembled tonight.
The new bearings should arrive tomorrow or the next day.
Should be fun trying to get the outer bearing races out of the housing.
I ordered a pilot bearing puller today from Amazon to hopefully help with the job. It was near the upper size limit but the reviews say it was bigger than listed.

 

[trevoroni]

Got the pinion shaft installed with the new bearings and flushed out the case and both the left and right gear case and put new 80w90 in it. The stuff that came out of there was pretty nasty as expected. I also used a magnet to get out the fine shavings... It's about as good as it's going to get without disassembling the whole thing.
Everything seams to be working alright although the pinion and ring gear are pretty noisy which was expected with the way they were worn. I'm just going to run it as is until it either breaks completely or a replacement axle is found. I don't think there's much point trying to adjust the shims with the way the gears look.
It looks like I'll be looking at $1000 for a new ring and pinion plus the trouble of shimming it for backlash and meshing. Hopefully a replacement axle can be found for less than that.
The pilot bearing puller worked great but I had to bend the arms a bit to grab the outer bearing race. And the standoff arms were a little short for pulling the last half of the bearing out so I macgyvered it with some magnets.
All and all a successful day with some help from the girls for Father's Day.

 

[trevoroni]

Found a set of 6-12 tires for the front on rims for $150.
It doesn't look like the rims have the correct bolt pattern but that's alright.

Also made some temporary stickers for the controls until I get everything painted and order a set of reproduction decals.

And I ordered a set of new NGK Y107-1 (6625) glow plugs because they were cheap and why not replace them.

I started doing a little research into adding a block heater.
I don't think I'll use it that much in winter but it would be nice to have the option incase my snow blower breaks down. Or to make some snow mountains for the girls to climb on.
It sounds like these tractors are tough to start when it's cold out.

 

[trevoroni]

Changed the transmission fluid tonight and to my surprise there was no "filter" screen present.
I think this little tractor had a hard life in it's previous life.
The fluid looked pretty good considering with very few sparkles but I'm glad I changed it.
Maybe it was changed when the loader was added.

 

[trevoroni]

And both the front axles are leaking at the hubs.
Given the condition of the ring and pinion I'm not going to bother replacing the seals until a solution is decided.
The 4wd did get me out of a bind when I had a load of dirt in the bucket though and the rear wheels didn't have any traction.

 

[trevoroni]

Well, well....
I found a used but looks like good condition ring and pinion gear for $375 USD shipped to Canada.
I don't think I'll find anything cheaper than that.
And with new seals and bearings I could rebuild the front axle for under $750 CAD I'd imagine.
Finding the time to do it all might be an issue though.
Decisions decisions....

 

[Lil Foot]

When you get the old ring & pinion out, shoot similar pics so we can see how worn they are.

 

[trevoroni]

Replaced the fuel filters today.
The first cartridge one under the tank was pretty dirty.
But the fuel line off of the pump cracked during the process. And unfortunately I didn't have any 5/16" line in my stockpile so I had to order some.

 

[AOW162435]

Trevor,
Congrats on the B6000. I recently drove 11 hours, one way, to pick up my 1979 B7100. These things are a joy to work on - simple, robust, logical.

Andreas

 

[trevoroni]

Thanks Andreas,
Yes I agree they are easy to work on.
I am slowly working through the issues/maintenance it needs.
A B7100 would be a nice step up from the B6000 and it's silly CCW PTO but with the rototiller and FEL on it already I don't think I'll have a need for any powered 3PH attachments in the future.